Call the midwife

[TwinklyFawn]

The call the midwife christmas special is on bbc 1 in 2 parts. The first part will be shown on christmas day at 20:00. The second part will be shown at 19:30 on boxing day. Series 14 will start on 5th January. I am suprised that it has not been renamed as the doctor Turner show.

yes same here,
i had to search as i knew i recognised her.

i wonder if she will be back, having a change of heart

although of course it wasnt far fetched that they would have given the baby up

Friend of my parents child was born disabled. In the 50’s so earlier. It wasn’t even questioned that he would be placed in an institution. No one expected the parents to look after him. Think in the 70’s there started to be a bit of a sea change but not by much I don’t think.

Phyllis did learn Spanish and once quoted one of my favourite poems, written by a Spanish poet:

Ay, the pain it costs me
to love you as I love you!

For love of you, the air, it hurts,
and my heart,
and my hat, they hurt me.

Who would buy it from me,
this ribbon I am holding,
and this sadness of cotton,
white, for making hankerchiefs with?

Ay, the pain it costs me
to love you as I love you!

A friend of mine was fostering children in the mid seventies, and at least two of them were disabled and were waiting to be adopted.

Don't know if I zoned out whilst watching it... but did we actually get an explanation of what spina bifida actually is? I've realised I've got no idea...

I think it was mentioned that the spine hadn’t fully developed during pregnancy but I don’t remember anything being said about how it would affect the baby.

If I remember correctly it’s why folic acid is recommended in pregnancy as a lack can cause spina bifida.

Here's the Wikipedia page for SB:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spina_bifida?wprov=sfti1

Yes.

If we did i missed it.

They didn't explain what Spina Bifida is in the episode, perhaps if they had given the parents more information they would have been able to make a more measured, informed decision.

I thought Nancy said she wants to marry in Poplar, so she'll be back for that maybe?

Remember Nonnatus Hpuse is the Fountain of Youth... Sister Monica Joan was nearly at deaths door on 50s but here we are in the 70s with her still going strong. I presume Nurse Crane is drinking from the sane tea pot!

I remember a scare that green potatoes was related to spina bifida , I think it was late seventies. Although Dr Turner didn't mention it so it can't have been early seventies.
My daughter worked for a while in a residential setting, where some residents had spent their whole lives and now receive geriatric care.

I actually think living at Nonnatus might be an elixir. They all eat together, don’t know who cooks but it is basic healthy cooked from scratch. They have an allotment so probably eat seasonally. No take aways or bags of crisps.
Then if one is showing any signs of illness the others are on them straight away to get it checked out.
They also have a calling so seem contented and none of the old age loneliness of living alone.

I'd have thought there would be a housekeeper who polished things and made nourishing food, but none is ever mentioned. And nobody seems to bustle in from the kitchen with a pie.

They used to have help that was visible didn't they, someone baked cakes (not sure they were ever seen, just talked about) and they had someone who cleaned. Suppose so those background characters have just been forgotten about, or they are assumed to exist.

True, it's like the nun version of The Golden Girls

I think one of the caretakers of Nonatus house was the sister in the workhouse incest story?

There was another early story about a woman who had lost a baby many years before who devoted herself to cleaning Nonatus only to have a surprise twins delivery.

These were early story lines.

I remember an Eastenders storyline about spina bifida. Bianca's first pregnancy, at the 12 week scan they could tell the baby had spina bifida. She & Ricky decided on a termination. I think that was in the early 90s.

They can't adopt every child in Poplar who needs a new home.! The whole point of May going to live with them was to get her away from Institutional care. I know some people do foster more than one child at a time but surely if the Turners took on every child who needed a home it would end up just like living in a children's home.

I assume that because she worked via Nonnatus House that they could not refuse to let Phyllis stay on. When the crabby Doctor tried to make her retire a few years ago it just said that she was 'above the normal age of retirement' As in those days women could get a pension at 60 she could be just mid 60s.

Up to the start of series 6 there were references to a cook called Mrs B but she was never seen or heard on screen.

That was a Christmas special when the BBC came to record a Christmas service. It was the church she cleaned. Her niece gave birth to twins then she had a completely surprise baby. The actress who played her went on to play the Queen Mother in the first two series of The Crown

I see that they are introducing a new postulant nun into the series next week. It will be interesting to see how she fits in. When Cynthia became a postulant she had to go to the mother house for the first six months do it will be interesting how they play it. Will she see life in Poplar and decide not to take the veil after all?

I loved her in East is East then the sequel West is West. She’s fabulous.

I remember LB in a tv film of A Village Affair when she played a homophobic housekeeper. When recently there was a storyline of two lesbians, I couldn't help smiling at seeing how much more tolerant she was in CTM set in 1969 than this other woman set in 1990s.